海角社区staff and friends break ground on Coggin College expansion project
The 海角社区 proudly celebrated the groundbreaking on the extension and updates to the Coggin College of Business on Tuesday. The new space will provide needed classrooms, research labs and additional spaces to facilitate the success of Coggin’s more than 3,000 students, over 100 distinguished faculty and talented staff.
“We are excited to share news today about the Coggin College of Business expansion and renovation project,” said 海角社区President Moez Limayem. “海角社区graduates are executives and other vital employees in almost every major company in this region. These updated facilities will help us provide more resources to our students so they can find their own direction and later become leaders and innovators in Jacksonville and beyond."
The expansion adds 21,660 square feet of new space and connects Building 42 with Building 10. The new space will be utilized for labs, classrooms including The Regency Centers classroom, the Stellar Student Lounge, faculty offices and conference rooms. It will also house the Crowley Center for Transportation and Logistics. The second floor of Building 10 will be completely renovated for new classrooms, offices and to house Coggin’s Graduate and Executive Education program. About 50,000 square feet in all will be renovated or added.
Two state-of-the-art labs will open in the new space. The Energy Authority Portfolio Management Lab will be utilized for finance and fintech students to study market trends and trading. The Behavioral Research Lab will enhance Coggin faculty’s ability to conduct cutting-edge business research in consumer behavior, behavioral finance, behavioral economics and management.
The project was funded in large by a generous $26.3M Public Education Capital Outlay appropriation from the State Legislature.
“This groundbreaking is highly anticipated and wouldn’t have been possible without our dedicated faculty, staff and students as well as generous supporters,” said Dr. Albert Loh, Coggin College of Business interim dean. “This space will help our students and faculty to produce world-class research that will have impacts far beyond the 海角社区campus.”
The Coggin College of Business offers 10 undergraduate programs, seven master's programs, three graduate certificates and five undergraduate minors. It also offers an array of study abroad, international dual degrees, internships, executive education and badges.
Those offerings include two new graduate programs in cutting-edge and high-demand fields. The Master of Science in FinTech program began enrolling students this fall. The Master of Science in Business Analytics program started in 2021 and has seen enrollment quadruple since the program’s inception. Coggin also recently expanded its Executive Education program that offers high-impact customized programming in executive training and development for both large corporations and small businesses around the nation.
Although Abraham Ovalle, a double major in accounting and finance, will graduate next spring before the expansion is completed, future students like him will directly benefit from the additional space for fintech labs like The Energy Authority Portfolio Management Lab. Ovalle handles communication services and alumni relations for the Osprey Financial Group, a select group of students who manage a portion of the 海角社区Endowment. The group is one of the Coggin constituents that will utilize the new space for activities like studying market trends, researching stock picks and utilizing the Bloomberg Terminals.
Ovalle has a full-time accounting position at Hancock Askew lined up after graduation. He credits his success to opportunities at UNF. After attending his first 海角社区career fair, he secured his first of two internships with Hancock Askew. Two months later, he got another internship at Dunn and Bradstreet after attending another 海角社区career fair. His fourth internship was secured after meeting a FIS spokesperson at UNF.
“海角社区has given me so many incredible opportunities to network with major business partners in Jacksonville,” said Ovalle. “Now that I have completed four internships and secured a full-time position after graduation, I am mentoring and giving back to other students.”
When 海角社区opened its doors for classes in 1972, the campus consisted of four major buildings and three colleges: Business Administration, Arts and Sciences, and Education. The College of Business Administration, Building 42, was built in 1996 and was named the Coggin College of Business in 2002 after the late Jacksonville business leader and longtime 海角社区supporter Luther W. Coggin. 海角社区has awarded a total of 28,800 business degrees since opening its doors, about 24% of the total 122,488 degrees awarded by the University.